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Like, I'm sure, many people in bands I'm quite keen on playing more shows around the UK. And, like many people in bands, who don't fancy long treks to play in a room to three people and a border collie named Marion, I'm interested in finding venues where there is a potential audience of people who'll be open to turning up and seeing what's going on.

What really appeals to me, therefore, is more gigs at Universities/student unions/student music societies and so forth.

It strikes me what I'd find really helpful, and I'm sure other people in bands would too, is a list of university student unions etc. and who to contact. If it was on a thread on DiS, such as this one, it'd be a great resource anyone in a band on here could use to find someone to approach at a University in whatever town...

So, if you are at a university and feel willing to do so I'd love it if you were to list below

a) Who puts gigs on at your Uni and where

b) How to contact them

c) What kind of bands they like...

I've tried to do something like this before with festivals but failed miserably 'cos everyone wanted to play them but no-one had any info. But I imagine people can find this out fairly easily so hopefully we'll have better luck.

I seriously think if people are up for it this thread could be useful to a lot of people...

For my part I'm no longer at Uni but spent 2000 - 2003 at Bournemouth.

Bournemouth Uni has its own nightclub called the Old Firestation that used to put on bands once a month but I think it's gone up recently (when I was there was pre-Libertines and pre-the resurgence in guitar music in recent years).

They tend to have biggish indie headliners but I don't know what they do about supports...

Again, when I was there there wasn't much in the way of guitar band venues but I believe that's changed too. Someone like Alex-in-Ciderland, who lives in Bournemouth, would know more about all this than me though...

I sort of went to Royal Holloway for my MA (I was mostly based at their central London campus but occasionally spent time in the Egham site itself) and there didn't seem to be much going on.
Think Neecho and a few other people are trying to start something there though.

Where I was in Central London the main student venue was of course ULU

we had one gig already and it was utterly bitchin, in crosslands. never seen it so packed, it was hard finding space to move! :)
now we're an official society, so we're going to put on a night at medicine next term
x

we're going to be focusing on clubnights because there are already loads of gigs in Manchester. But we'll probably put on one or two gigs over the course of the year, if we can find some distinctive/unusual/entertaining enough acts to put on...

if you want to play here, contact the Live Music Soc.. or go hassel their president at myspace(dot)com/clubpopaganda
... popaganda are pretty ok, they've put on some decent bands considering its their first year, but also some shit bands. The good bands included Brakes, Esiotrot, Askogodo Teliverk, Strange Idols, They Came From The Stars..

At Sheffield Uni, i'm part of a new altmusic soc that are looking to put on gigs/club nights. Aiming for a quirky, wide range of music that doesnt really get played at any of the other nights at the union, with cakes and other fun stuff. Guess just sending me a note would be best, but we're keeping it small at first so won't be paying much.

I also know a guy that puts on monthly gigs atm, but will have twice-monthly next year at a local venue (the Grapes), doing lots of post-rock/experimental, http://www.myspace.com/unevenblonde to contact.

a regular night is being considered, but for now they're just looking at putting one night on at the raynor lounge in may/ june to test the water - date to be one of a few its available for, decided once they work out which clashes with the least other stuff

any nights are just in the pipeline, currently planning on just doing one thing as soon as we can book the raynor lounge (pretty cheap if you're a society), which is end of May/early June. Aiming for a couple of bands + DJs, plus other fun stuff. Look out for 'Small Ideas' nights, doubtlessly i'll JAG it all over here.

The other guy's next gig is Maybeshewill, Her name is calla and worriedaboutsatan on May 13th, all super bands, despite the lack of spacebar.

but there's a promoter here in Cardiff who put on shows at the Union at the UWIC art college students union (known as Tommy's Bar) on a regular basis. They get good turn-outs, though the crowds are a bit annoying sometimes. The promoter's called The Family. They have a myspace but I can't access that in work so I don't know it off the top of my head.

People you 'know' in Cardiff (Pagan Wanderer Lu/Gindrinker) have all played numerous times so they should have contact details.

Not sure what the situation is with Goldsmiths Union is at the moment so your best bet for nights down that way are the Amersham Arms and New Cross Inn. Noise and neon are two good watchwords for a lot of the nights which tend toward the more DiS-friendly booking-wise.

The Amersham got taken over by the people who run the Lock Tavern last year and have had a big impact on the area - small shows from big bands, new shiny soundsystem, better booking/promoter policy, etc. Capacity is about 400-odd. Check out www.amersham-arms.co.uk for current line-up but good nights include: Big in Japan (www.big-in-japan.co.uk), No Pain in Pop (myspace.com/nopaininpop) and Walk The Night (Myspace.com/walkthenightclub).

New Cross Inn is smaller (150/200?) and a bit more beaten-up, but great atmosphere when full and the crowd is bouncing around no feet from the stage. Usually provide drums and bass amp as well, which can be useful to out-of-towners. Again, their Myspace (myspace.com/newcrossinn) has a list of the current promoters, amongst whom are Shoot Low They're Riding Shetlands (myspace.com/shootlowtheyreridingshetlands), What Scene? (myspace.com/whatscenepromotions), Modern Love (myspace.com/this_is_modernlove) and South Eats London (myspace.com/southeatslondon), which I help run and you can drop me a note if you're interested in playing.

There are some smaller venues around - Birds Nest, Deptford Arms, Montague Arms - which also have various fun and goodness taking place.